Don't Let the Refrigerator Hear You

Years (decades?) ago I read an article that was titled "Don't Let the Refrigerator Hear You." The thesis of this Reader's Digest story was that every time a homeowner gets a couple of dollars ahead, something crops up that needs to be paid for--if you own a home and get a bonus at work, don't let the refrigerator hear you talk about it or sure as shootin' you're going to be buying a new refrigerator.

I've never been able to find the story again, but I think of it very, very often, most recently this morning. Husband and I had been imprudently discussing how it probably was a good idea we didn't take an expensive vacation this year, what with the upcoming wedding and a couple of projects we want to do on the house.

Just about then Husband heard the sump pump in the basement begin cycling on/off/on/off and since he is an adult (unlike me, who would have stuffed her fingers in her ears and claimed not to hear) he went down to investigate. And whaddya know! The sewer had heard him!

Fortunately, everything that was backing up was rainwater (thank you, torrential rains) so Husband put the immediate kibbosh on flushing and showering and called the people who fix this kind of thing for a living. Then he and I spent the next couple of hours digging up the back yard looking for the thing-a-ma-jig that would let those fixer people inspect the sewer line.

It was not as much fun as you might think it would be. Also, my beautiful stone patio now needs just a smidgeon of restoration. Sigh.

A word of advice, people? If you ever have to dig up your inspection thing-a-ma-jig, write yourself detailed instructions of how to find it again. Because once that was found, it was a matter of minutes until everything was, uh, flowing again.

Here are the silver linings associated with this sewage cloud: Because we were at home, and not in Colorado, the issue was discovered immediately rather than after it had been filling the basement for three days. That would NOT have been cool. Also, because we did not go to Colorado we could write out the check to pay the nice cleaner-outer guy and not think "Dang! Why didn't any of the Boys become sewer cleaner-outer guys?"

The sewer line is once again functional, and because we didn't go to Colorado, we can now well, go again.

And if I have to choose one or the other, I'd definitely choose the latter.